Thoughts On the Law

Since I should be studying, I am spending lots of time thinking about things that DEFINITELY won't be on any of my exams. Natch.

Doing my mock trial this fall, I was really struck by the complete and total disconnect between what we do in law school and what happens in a courtroom. I have spent the last 18 months reading appellate case after appellate case, trying to discern the abstract legal rule and how it works when applied to various sets of facts. At trial, you just tell a good story about your client and... get this... you never even mention the law. There is no talk of rules, no talk of what the Supreme Court has held in the past, no discussion of what elements I have to prove in order to win... It's all just a story.

It's WEIRD.

Also. Law Review.

Really? Not so bad. I will know the Blue Book inside and out, which is a handy skill for lawyers to have. I'm learning a TON about class action law, which is moderately interesting. It's kind of nice to be able to dive so deep into a single topic. By the time my case note is finished, I will have written a 100+ page survey of class action law and and how the New Mexico Court of Appeals was correct in this one certain case. I might have come to a different conclusion, but that doesn't mean it was an abuse of discretion...

And legal writing?

I'm a very detailed writer. I tend to gather all the quotes I want to use, put them in an order that makes sense, and write text around the quotes. Not the most efficient way to do things, but it helps me get an argument out with plenty of support for each point. Just saying.